Unrequited
by Vans321
Summary: When Annabeth Chase is kidnapped by Mr. Jackson and his band of thieves, she is thrust into a world of dark deals, mysterious men, and secret revenge. Annabeth was never one to cower away from a challenge, but can she handle life as a Heist Girl? AU
1. A Towel and a Thief

_**Unrequited**_

Annabeth didn't understand love especially when it was unrequited. It made sense, to be honest. The first ten years of her life were spent watching her mother be unsatisfied as her father loved every single flaw and imperfection that her mother had. Then her mother left them, and even at the age of ten, Annabeth knew that if love were as powerful as they all said, she would have stayed with Annabeth or, better yet, taken Annabeth with her. It became even more apparent that love wasn't all it seemed when Annabeth's father got remarried only a year later. This mentality stuck with Annabeth even three years short of a decade later.  
It was a Friday night and Annabeth was studying in her room like she always did when her step-mother came in.  
"Come on Annabeth, get up and do something. Hang out with your friends, get in trouble, kiss a boy, I don't know just don't sit here studying all night."  
Susan was a nice woman, Annabeth supposed, but she didn't quite understand Annabeth's anti-social nature.  
"I'm fine, but thanks for asking," Annabeth told her, still browsing her history notes.  
"Okay then," Susan said, sounding slightly miffed, "I actually came up here to tell you that the twins have a baseball party and your father and I might be out late. You'll have to fend for yourself tonight. There are some leftovers in the fridge, so you should be set. Also, if you do decide to actually do something for once, leave a note in case we get home before you do."  
"Sounds good," Annabeth said dismissively, "Give the boys and dad my love."  
Then she closed the door in Susan's face.

A few hours later, Annabeth was in the shower singing to herself. Although she didn't seem like the type, Annabeth always sang when preforming monotonous tasks. When she heard a clanging below her, she stopped. She checked her watch which was lying on the bathroom counter; it was only eight o'clock, her family couldn't possibly be home yet.  
Slowly, Annabeth turned the shower off and wrapped a towel around herself. She opened the door slowly and peeked out into the hallway. There was nobody there. She quietly crept down the hall, holding her towel to her body, her hair dripping the whole way. She heard voices downstairs. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but they were certainly saying something. Annabeth paused, remembering Bobby, her little brother, had a Celtic knife that he kept in his room. She sprinted down the way and grabbed it from his dresser. Although the blade was pretty dull, it was better than nothing.  
Then she started down the stairs. The voices became clearer and the sounds of rummaging and shifting furniture became louder. She paused to listen.  
"Nothin' over here Nic, just a bunch of silverware. Wait, no, there is a vase that looks pretty expensive," the deep voiced man speaking could be faintly heard up the stairs where Annabeth was standing. She knew what vase they were talking about. Susan had got it on sale at cost plus.  
"Sounds interesting let me see," she heard another voice, presumably Nic, say.  
She heard the vase get slammed to the floor.  
"This piece of crap is barley even worth as much as this t-shirt Tyson!" Nic yelled.  
"I-I'm sorry Nico," said the other man, Tyson, his voice hurt, "I d-didn't know."  
"Don't worry big man; Nico is just a little irritable," another voice said, "Mr. Jackson said this was an important client and that we need to please her."  
"Okay Grover," Tyson said, sniffling. Annabeth almost felt bad for him until she realized he was trying to rob her house. She rushed down the stairs and into the kitchen, holding the knife in proper stance. Annabeth wasn't a coward or unprepared to fight. She'd been taught by her mother how to protect herself years ago and could outsmart nearly any man or woman. Although she was slightly rusty, Annabeth knew how to use a knife and wasn't afraid of hurting a few people in the process.  
The men looked shock to say the least. Girls with knives wearing nothing but a towel aren't exactly an ever day occurrence.  
"Who in Tartarus are you?" said one with shaggy black hair and an aviator jacket.  
"I could say the same thing to you. This is my house!" Annabeth shouted at him.  
"Grover, you said this place was empty!" aviator guy said to the skinny red haired man to his left.  
"I thought it was, Nico," Grover responded, looking scared.  
"Well, you were clearly wrong!" Nico shouted. It seemed as though yelling was something the black haired man did often.  
"Hey! Listen here!" Annabeth yelled at the men, commanding their attention, "I don't know who you three are, but if you don't get the hell out of my house right now, I swear, I will kill each and every one of you." She held up the knife higher to prove her point.  
"Sure you will," Nico said rolling his eyes, "Tell me, girl, what's your name?"  
"Don't call me girl. You can't be much older than I am."  
"Well, how am I supposed to know what to call you if you don't tell me your name?" He responded with a smirk.  
She sighed, "I'm Annabeth."  
"What a nice name. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Nico and these to dog brains are Grover and Tyson," he replied jokingly.  
"Oh the pleasure's all mine. Now, will you would please proceed out the door," she replied bringing the knife near his throat.  
"But Annabeth, we were only just getting to know each other," he said with a malicious glint in his eyes.  
Annabeth would have said something snarky to retort, but Tyson, the nearly seven foot broad shouldered man to Nico's right, interrupted their little exchange by pointing to her collar bone saying, "What's that?"  
Annabeth's eyes traveled downward where her gaze fell on the shining diamond that was her mother's wedding band. When Annabeth was thirteen, she had found it while searching through her mother's old belongings and had worn it on a chain around her neck ever since.  
"It's a wedding ring," she told them.  
"Really?" Nico said in disbelief, "How old are you, seventeen? Isn't that a little too young to be getting married?"  
"It isn't mine," she replied hastily, "It belonged to my mom."  
"Is that so..." Nico, said, reaching to touch it.  
"Don't touch me," Annabeth reprimanded, slapping his hand away. That was a huge mistake.  
In the process of slapping Nico's hand, Annabeth had let go of her towel which, in turn, caused it to fall to the ground.  
Tyson looked away ashamed, Grover's face turned cherry red, and Nico, well he just laughed and grabbed the chain off Annabeth's neck while she was distracted.  
"Hey, give that back," Annabeth shouted, lunging at him angrily, not even bothering with her towel and left her knife on the floor.  
"Sorry Annie but this is mine now," he said laughing at her frustrated state, "Boys, use the rope to tie her hands and put her in one of those robes from the closet. I think the boss might be interested in this one."  
Then, taking her dad's signed wooden baseball bat, he hit her over the head, and the world faded and turned to black.

**Hey everyone. So, I posted a story, shocker right. I should probably start by saying sorry for taking that unannounced hiatus. Not to mention how long it's been. However, I'm back and I'll probably be posting a lot more often. I'll definitely being taking a poke at this story once a week. To explain, I have been writing my own personal novel recently, but have hit a bit of writer's block, so I started working with this plot bunny I had a while ago. Also, to any of my subscribers, I will be posting an onslaught of one-shots at some point, so beware. That is about it, sooooo….**

**Thx 4 Reading**

**-Vans**


	2. Blue Cookies

_**Unrequited**_

The first thing Annabeth felt when she woke up was how much her head hurt. She groaned, rubbing her forehead and rolled over on the soft bed. That was when Annabeth remembered what had happened the night before. Or was it two days before? She couldn't be sure, but she knew she'd been out for a while considering how hungry she was.

After a few minutes, Annabeth's head wasn't throbbing as badly and her mind was a bit clearer. She could tell that it was sometime in the late afternoon by the way the sun was shining through a large bay window. She looked around the room. Annabeth wasn't sure what she had expected, but it certainly wasn't this. The room was larger and more statuesque than any place she'd ever been. The head board was an ornate oak slab with intricate details all over it; Annabeth could have stared at it for hours. The walls were dark blue, like the bottom of the ocean and a large picture, something Annabeth recognized as _The Storm on the Sea of Galilee _by Rembrandt van Rijn. It had been stolen from a Boston museum in 1990 according to Annabeth's knowledge. She knew it was probably a forgery, but she couldn't help but be awed by the accuracy. All around the room were pieces of expensive furniture and priceless artifacts.

Then Annabeth heard the door creak open and whipped her head around. She stared in shock at the figure coming in. She had assumed one of the men from the night before would come and retrieve her, but this was clearly a woman. She was about 5'4 and maybe twenty three with choppy black hair pushed back in a silver hair band and electric blue eyes with a little sprinkle of freckles over her nose and cheeks. She was dressed in a black trench coat and tall black boots. Annabeth felt a sense of de ja vu wash over her, like she'd seen this girl before.

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked boldly.

The girl gave an impish grin and rolled her eyes.

"The real question is who are you? But, if you insist, I'm Thalia," The girl responded in a joking tone. Annabeth scowled.

"Annabeth," Annabeth replied reaching out her hand, "Where am I?"

"That," Thalia said, taking Annabeth's hand for the shake, "is classified information."

"Fine then. Why am I here?"

"Lot of questions you've got there, Annabeth," Thalia said, with that stupid smirk of her's again.

"Just give me an answer," Annabeth said; this chick was seriously testing her patients.

"I asked myself the same question when Nico, Tyson, and Grover dragged you in here the other day. They've never kidnapped anybody before," Thalia responded.

"Gosh, I feel so special, I'm the only person they've ever kidnapped; lucky me. So do you know anything?" Annabeth said, getting irritated.

"Not exactly. I know a lot of stuff, but about why you're here is unclear. They did mention something about you interfering with their mission to Percy, though," Thalia said, shrugging.

"I didn't interfere with their mission! They interfered with my shower, and they stole from my house!" Annabeth shouted.

"I heard about that, too. It is such a great story! I mean, you tried to get Nico with a knife, right? I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to do that," Thalia told her, laughing.

Annabeth's stomach rumbled.

"Shit, I forgot. You haven't eaten in three days," Thalia said.

"Three days? I was out that long?" Annabeth was aghast.

"Yep. Here's a power bar. Eat it slowly, though. If you eat too much at once, you'll get really bad stomach cramps," Thalia told her.

Annabeth snatched the bar and started nibbling on it.

"So, who's Mr. Jackson?" she asked, remembering the name that Nico had mentioned on The Night.

At first, Thalia looked a little confused, but seemed to figure it out, "Oh! You mean Percy; Jackson is his last name. Yeah, he's my cousin, but the boys always call him Mr. Jackson when they're on missions to protect his identity. He's our boss, but most of us in the inner circle just call him Percy."

"What's the inner circle?" Annabeth questioned. She couldn't help her curiosity; it was just something that was natural for her.

"I'm not really supposed to tell you that, but I can just say that it is mostly just family and friends. And Clarisse. We run a business here, the inner circle are our core members, and Percy is our leader. You met Nico, Grover, and Tyson. Grover has been Percy's friend since forever, Tyson is Percy's half-brother, and Nico is our cousin," Thalia explained.

"Look, I've said way too much. I'll go and get you something more substantial to eat, okay? I'll be right back," Thalia said after a beat, getting off the end of the bed and leaving in a rush.

"But," Annabeth called after Thalia, but she was already gone.

When the door creaked open again, Annabeth expected to see Thalia, but that was not what she got. The woman who came through the door was about two inches taller and old enough to be Thalia's mother. She had wavy brown hair and kind blue eyes. She held a tray in her hands. It was piled with sandwiches, some blue cookies, an apple, and what looked like some sort of sparkling blue berry juice. She smiled at Annabeth.

"You must be Annabeth," she said in a nice motherly voice as she handed her the tray. It didn't sound the least like Susan's nagging tone.

"Thalia told me you were hungry," she said.

"Starved," Annabeth said in a simple monotone voice.

The woman wasn't fazed, "I should think. You've been out for how long, three days?"

Had anyone else said it, it might have sounded snobby or rude, but coming from that woman, it seemed like a simple question.

"Yes, that's what Thalia told me, at least."

"Well, eat up," she told me, pushing the tray towards Annabeth.

"Thanks," she said, with a slight smile that probably looked like a grimace.

"These are really good," Annabeth told the lady with gratitude as she nibbled on a cookie.

"Thanks. Percy always tells me that," the woman told her with a look of appreciation.

"So, are you Mr. Jackson's housekeeper or something?" Annabeth asked, trying to figure out the woman's identity.

"You could say that," she said with an amused tone, "Let's just put it this way, I spend a lot of time cleaning this room."

Annabeth nearly spit out the cookie, "This is _his _room?"

"Yes."

"Then why have I been in here for the past few days? Wouldn't the boss make one of the lower members give up their room?" Annabeth asked, figuring that would be how the system worked.

"No, Percy insisted you have his room. He's been staying in one of the guest rooms for the past few days. He thought this room would be best for you because the bed is the comfiest," Sally told her, "Not that the others are anything to complain about."

Annabeth knit her eyebrows trying to figure out why someone who's workers had kidnapped her would be so accommodating.

"I know this situation isn't exactly ideal, but I think Percy will explain. I would if I could, but I'm not sure what is going on in the first place. He's been so lonely lately, though, it'll be nice for him to have a distraction," Sally said, recognizing Annabeth's emotions.

Just from the one sympathetic look, Annabeth broke down. She couldn't stop herself; all the frustration and emotion had come up in a flood that was trying to escape her mind through her tears.

The woman put an arm around Annabeth and pulled her in. She stroked Annabeth's hair and rubbed her back. Susan had never done anything like that for Annabeth; she never noticed how Annabeth felt behind her mask, yet a woman whom she had just met could. It surprised Annabeth.

After a few minutes, Annabeth managed to calm herself down. She took a deep breath and sniffled.

"Thanks," she said shakily.

"I know you might not think so, but I understand," the woman said with a small smile, "If I could, I would race you right out of here, but I have to respect Percy's decisions. Just know that you have a friend, okay. I have to go finish some things, but Percy will want to meet you when he gets home. I need to tell you, Percy is going through a hard time right now, so he might not be on his best behavior. He is really a nice boy; you just have to give him time."

She got up to leave.

"Wait, I'm sorry for being so impolite, but I didn't ask you you're name," Annabeth said, feeling the need to know the identity of someone who had been so kind to her without hesitation.

"You can call me Sally."

Then the woman was gone.

**So, I got the second chapter finished. Yay! I am so happy with the response I got for this story. I am super excited to be writing fanfiction again, even if it is AU. I got one review last chapter from **XxbethamphetaminexX**! Every chapter, I'll shot out a few people who reviewed down here, so keep 'em coming. ****  
**

**If you have any questions or suggestions, I'd love to take them and apply them to the story as best I can. Any and all questions(with in reason) will be answered. Hope you liked the chapter and introduction to Sally's role. Maybe you noticed the foreshadowing? Either way...**

**Thx 4 Reading**

**-Vans**


	3. Sweaty Locker Rooms

_**Unrequited**_

After Sally left, Annabeth looked around the room. There wasn't much to see besides all of the expensive trinkets. She tried her luck in the drawers, but it was just a bunch of men's clothes. There were about five books on the black wood shelf in the corner, all of them ones Annabeth had already read. There was a large trunk, almost like a treasure chest sitting by the end of the bed. She figured it held something of interest. Annabeth knew she shouldn't snoop, but the boredom and desire to know took over and she opened it up.  
The contents of the chest were underwhelming. It seemed to be a storage bin of sorts. There was a first aid kit and emergency food along with some more personal things, like a photo album and a familiar looking Yankees cap.  
Annabeth grabbed the photo album. Maybe she could figure out some more about the mysterious Mr. Jackson.  
Annabeth smiled to herself at the thought; from the way Thalia had talked about Percy, he was just a normal guy. However, confirmation should be necessary when it came to matters of discovering more about you kidnapper.  
She opened to the first page. For the first bit, it was mostly pictures of a small black haired kid Annabeth could only assume was Percy. This didn't interest her, though. She quickly flipped through until she saw someone she recognized as Grover. The black haired boy had his arm slung around him and was making a goofy smile. Grover looked a little awkward with his pimply face and wispy beard, but happy.  
As she continued browsing, she saw a few pictures of Thalia and Percy and multiple of a large group of people that included Thalia, Nico, Tyson, Grover, Percy, a girl with stringy brown hair and a few other girls all wearing extra tight silver shirts. One with a silver hair band appeared to be their leader and the girl with dark locks and eyes wearing a green cap seemed to be another recurring character.  
The next picture was of an African American boy with his arm around a beautiful girl with flowing black hair and saturated blue eyes. They both wore matching orange t-shirts. She was giving him a sweet kiss on the cheek and he was smiling and blushing. It was a nice picture, but the edges were frayed and the colors slightly smeared in the corner where the girl's hair and t-shirt met as though someone had taken it out and spent a lot of time holding it.  
"What's that?" A deep, but feminine voice said from the doorway. Annabeth whipped her head around, more shocked than scared. Standing in the doorway was the tall, broad shouldered girl with stringy hair from the photo album. She was wearing a camouflage bandana and a tight red tank top with shorts.  
Despite the girl's tough demeanor, Annabeth didn't feel intimidated; if anything, she was facing an entertaining challenge.  
"It's a photo album. I was bored and it was sitting on the bookshelf," Annabeth lied.  
The girl gave her a questioning look and said, "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to touch things that don't belong to you?"  
"My mother left when I was ten."  
The girl glared at her and grunted.  
"Thalia told me to come and get you. She said something about getting you clothes," the girl said.  
Annabeth just sat there, not really sure what she should do. Follow a stranger to an unknown place or be stuck in this room forever? The answer was pretty obvious. She would inevitably have to go with the girl.  
Annabeth got off the bed.  
"I'm Annabeth."  
"Clarisse."

Clarisse lead Annabeth down a series of long halls and staircases. While most were silent and empty except for the sounds of creaking wood under their feet and the groan of what sounded like a sleeping leviathan, in some Annabeth could hear the whispers, no matter how hard the walls tried to immure them. That's how she knew that what Thalia said was true; there were people working and living in this building where Annabeth had been hidden away for three days. Annabeth had enough experience with schools and workplaces to know that they all knew exactly who she was, even if she had never met them before. Rumors travel fast.  
Clarisse was quite uncommunicative despite Annabeth's efforts at conversation. She made it clear that her cruel demeanor wasn't just a front; she was, in fact, unfriendly and wasn't against picking a fight.  
"Where are we going?" Annabeth asked.  
Clarisse just shot her a blatant look of hatred.  
"Does it matter?" Clarisse replied.  
"Do you think I'd ask if it weren't?"  
"Fine, whatever you say wise girl," she said with a sneer, "We're going to the locker room."  
"What's the-" Annabeth started, but Clarisse cut her off.  
"Look, Miss Princess, I don't have time for your stupid questions. I have plenty of better things to do than be your babysitter as well, so if you would shut the Hades up, I won't feel as tempted to break your spine into tiny little invertebrate," Clarisse said cutting Annabeth off.  
Normally, Annabeth wasn't one to put up with any of this, but the ball was no longer in her possession, so she let the matter rest and continued walking through the thick silence.  
She did have one question though: what was up with all of these Greek names?

The locker room, as it turned out, was actually a sort of storage room. There were a few lockers, each labeled with a different name, but mostly it was full of assorted trinkets ranging from hockey sticks to marble busts. It smelled slightly musty with a hint of incense and olive oil.  
In the corner, an old table sat, out of place despite the diversity if the other objects in the room. It had a pattern carved in that Annabeth figured could have been considered ornate at one point, but had long since faded and been weathered to the point of being considered decrepit. Nico, Tyson, and Thalia were playing cards along with two older men she had never seen before. One was in a wheelchair. He had a scruffy beard and was wearing a tweed jacket that was probably in his late forties. The man sitting next to him looked like a fat grape wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt looked to be in his thirties. Somehow, the grape man looked slightly familiar, like a shape made in the sand; after being run over with water a few times, you could hardly recognize it.  
"I brought the prisoner Thalia," Clarisse said, shoving Annabeth forward.  
She side stepped the hand.  
"Watch it."  
The man in the tweed jacket smiled at her with a knowing look.  
"Hello Annabeth," he said, his old pleasant eyes warm, telling a thousand stories, "And Clarisse, don't make Annabeth think herself a prisoner, she's our guest."  
The grape snorted; that is if grapes can snort, "Yeah our guest. Hate to break it to you Annabelle, but you're definitely our prisoner."  
"Quiet," the man chastised, as though his friend were a child.  
"Oh! And how impolite of me, I'm Mr. Bruner," he continued, as though it were an afterthought.  
"Mr. Bruner?" Thalia said with an amused tone, "Please, no one calls you that; this is Chiron,"  
"Why Chiron?" Annabeth asked. She knew Chiron had trained heroes in Greek mythology, but she didn't understand why they would connect this man with a centaur?  
"You'll see," Thalia said with yet another stupid smirk.  
Annabeth hated all of this secretive behavior, but she didn't voice the opinion.  
"And who are you?" Annabeth asked, looking the grape straight in the eye.  
The man stared at her surprised and offended, fire burning in his eyes.  
"You mean you don't remember me?" he said, faking offense.  
Suddenly the pieces clicked into place.  
"Oh my god! I know you! You knew my mom," Annabeth said surprised.  
When she was little, Athena, Annabeth's mother, hardly ever got together with the people she grew up with and didn't even bring Frederick with her to see them. Annabeth had only met her grandparents once for that matter. Although she had never been told flat out, Annabeth knew something had happened between her mother's family and her parents before she was born.  
Annabeth only faintly remembered her day with her mom's relatives. Athena had been taken under the wing in the form of an apprenticeship as a thirteen year old into a family of scandal and high status. She had six siblings (one adopted like her) and a sister-in-law not to mention four eccentric aunts and uncles.  
Annabeth remembered receiving a pinched cheek from Aphrodite, a beautiful woman married to a man named Hephaestus but clearly in an affair with her husband's brother, Ares, a glare from both the clear matriarch Hera, and Poseidon, Hera's brother-in-law, a proud smile from Zeus, the head of the house, and a lot of strange looks and conversations from her mother's family and friends. She didn't recall too much of it, but she remembered feeling really upset afterwards.  
However, she did remember this man. At the time, he had seemed much nicer than he did now. He had a kind wife who told Annabeth that she was very smart for a five year old and he'd even said that Athena had raised a fine daughter.  
"You're Dionysus. My mom lived with your family while she was in high school. She worked for your dad," Annabeth said, shocked to see such a ghost from her and, more prominently, her mother's past.  
"That's right, Annelise."  
"It's Annabeth."  
"Isn't that what I just said?" he snapped back.  
"So, now that we're all acquainted, how about we get down to business," Thalia broke in.  
And so they did.

**So, I'm back. Sorry for the break, but last week I spent basically all 168 hours at rehearsals for the Pride and Prejudice adaptation I am going to be in or doing homework. This weekend, I was in the OC for a water polo tournament and Disney Land. I had a ton of fun, but there wasn't much time to write. However, eight hour drives to Nor Cal are great for getting those creative juices flowing.(seriously, I'm writing this as I go over the Grapevine) I'll try to post another chapter on Wednesday to make up for my lack of updates, but it all depends on my schedule.**

**I would love to shout out: **  
_Lifeisgreat1537_  
_honeymello _**(who I had a great conversation with over PM) **  
_Moment4Life and Ax_  
**Moment4life and Ax is so great, by the way. She's been following me since I began writing fan fiction and I was so glad to hear from her again.**  
**Please please please REVIEW WITH YOUR QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS!**  
**I want to make reading this story as engaging and interesting as possible, so it would be awesome to hear from you guys.**  
**I love talking to all of you and really would like to make this as much your story as it is mine.**

**With that**  
**Thx 4 Reading**  
**-Vans**

**PS: Check out my profile for extra stuff from this story**


	4. Messy Rooms and Claculus Homework

_**Unrequited**_

**So normally, I wouldn't do an A/N at the beginning of a chapter, but this is really important. A certain character will be quite a bit OOC, however, it will only be for the first two or three chapters he is featured in, then he will begin to become more like his usual self. I have reasons to justify this inaccurate portrayal of the character, so please don't get mad. The reasons will come to light eventually.**

Annabeth shuffled awkwardly in her new clothes; the shirt fit her weirdly, like it'd belonged to a slightly shorter person with a much larger bust. However, the material was soft, smelled like roses, and was in a nice shade of orange. Something had been written on it at one point, but it had since been faded away with age. The denim shorts fit well enough though.  
"Don't worry, these clothes are just temporary. We couldn't have you walking around in Percy's pajamas, and these have just been lying around in Silena's locker, so..." Thalia trailed off.  
"Well, I'm going to have to thank this Silena girl. Nice of her to lend me her clothing."  
"Yeah, well, I'll tell her that," Thalia said, scratching the back of her neck with a slightly contrite look. While Annabeth felt compelled to ask, she would save that question for later.  
"So, where are we going exactly?" Annabeth asked, choosing a less sensitive issue to address.  
"We're headed to Hall Eleven," Thalia said plainly, as though not thinking.  
"What's-"  
Thalia cut her off with an exasperated sigh. This girl with clearly very atrabilious; almost as much as Clarisse.  
"Hall Eleven is where all the lower members sleep. It's where Percy is currently staying. That's the main reason you needed the new clothes today; he wanted to meet you," Thalia said.  
"Hasn't he already met me? He did give you guys permission to keep me prisoner, so he would have seen me at some point," Annabeth responded. She sounded like a snob, but she didn't care. So far, she'd been treated like a child by everyone and it infuriated her.  
"He wants to meet you while you're conscience," Thalia said.  
Annabeth gave her a smile and rolled her eyes. Thalia's brash comments had started to grow on her.  
"I've got to admit, though, you are way more pleasant when you're asleep."

Hall Eleven was not what Annabeth had expected to say the least. She had pictured another long boring hallway with a priceless vase or stolen art piece, but Eleven was different. The hall may have been painted warm brown at one point, but it had since faded and started to peel. Each door was a vibrant color and the wood floors looked like they'd been walked a thousand times and were in desperate need of sweeping.  
What surprised her most were the people. Kids from ages seven and up were running around from room to room carrying everything that began with a letter A through Z. A high school student with a towel around her chased after a boy throwing rubber duckies at him; A group of middle school boys were playing basketball on a small hoop attached to a red door; A fourth grader was throwing a dagger at a target; two boys seemed to be putting a weird white powder on a shirt before sneaking into a room with a hot pink door; A third grader was reading a high school level physics book while leaning against a doorframe, seemingly unaware of everything going on around her. The whole thing was chaos at its finest.  
That is until someone saw her.  
It was like a chain reaction. First it was one person, than it was three, then it was fifteen, and then it was everyone in the hall. She could her snippets of the quidnunc, _that's her_; _I hear she's the reason Mr. Jackson has been in the hall_; _they say she's the daughter of an Olympian_. The whole body of mass seemed to only think of one thing, and it was Annabeth.  
Thalia saved her from further humiliation, "Cut it out, all of you! Shouldn't you guys be at the pavilion training or in the library studying? Get back to work."  
The kids grumbled and continued to do whatever they'd previously been doing.  
"Sorry 'bout that. The unclaimed kids are a little... uh... talkative," Thalia said.  
"What do you mean by unclaimed?" Annabeth asked in response. While the literal meaning of the word was pretty obvious to Annabeth, the way Thalia said it hinted that it meant something else in her mind.  
"Sorry; I keep forgetting that you're not up to speed with our lingo," Thalia said with a little laugh, maneuvering her way through the hallway. It didn't seem to be a hard task, though, the kids were giving them a pretty wide berth.  
"Everyone is assigned to one of twelve task forces each with a different specialty. We call them cabins, though. Some kids who just don't fit into a niche, or fit into a full cabin, or are too young end up without a cabin. We call them unclaimed. Hermes, the guy who runs Cabin Eleven, volunteered to keep all of the unclaimed kids in his task force's hall and let them train with all the kids from Cabin Eleven," Thalia explained. It was a lot to take in, but Annabeth got the gist of it.  
"Yeah. They get a little resentful though when someone like you gets claimed for a task force so early," Thalia said.  
"What?"  
"Gods girl, you ask a lot of questions," Thalia said, "I think I should probably just let Percy handle all the explanations, though. He's better at this type of thing."  
By this point, they'd made it to a section of the hall where the doors hadn't been painted. There weren't many, just five or six blank white slabs of wood with a chalkboard on it. Only one appeared to be occupied. It was the last painted door, adorned in a nice deep cerulean color that reminded Annabeth of the sky on a rainy day.  
"This is where I leave you. Good luck," Thalia said, opening the door and shoving Annabeth in.

The inside was less than impressive. The whole thing was a huge mess with an unmade bed, dirty clothes everywhere, and an assortment of dollar store decorations.  
In the corner was a desk.  
At the desk was a man.  
Percy Jackson had to be sixteen or seventeen, eighteen at the most. While Annabeth couldn't be sure what she was expecting, it wasn't this. She knew what Percy looked like from his photo album, but she had figured most of those pictures were outdated and that he had somehow become a middle aged, daunting man while all his friends remained their late teen-early twenties selves. She certainly hadn't expected him to be a regular, if rather muscular, teen, messy room and calculus homework (Which he was failing miserably at from the looks of the paper in front of him) included.  
When a guy like Percy stared at you, it was hard not to blush. To say the least, he was hot, in a surfer boy way. His green eyes were large and childish in every way. His easy smile must have made teachers immediately know he was trouble. His messy black hair made him look like he'd either just got out of bed (which really wouldn't surprise Annabeth) or he'd just been surfing. From the salty smell in the room, it was most likely the second of the two options.  
"So you're the infamous Percy Jackson?"  
"I prefer the term notorious," he responded.  
Annabeth just stared at him silently, clearly not amused.  
"Please, have a seat," he said patting his bed with an impish grin that probably made the average girl swoon. Or run for her life.  
When a normal boy asks you to sit on his bed, you don't do it unless you want to end up doing some nasty things. Just from his state and previous information, Annabeth could come to the conclusion that she would be perfectly safe; she could perform a judo flip in her sleep anyway.  
"So, what do you want?"  
"What I want to do is talk," Percy responded dumbly. Normally, Annabeth would imagine a sentence like that to sound arrogant and overly charming, but when Percy Jackson said it, he made it clear he didn't have the slightest idea of what subliminal messaging was.  
"Well, be my guest. No one is stopping you from rattling away," Annabeth responded. She hated this guy already. At least if he were a sleaze, she could have an excuse to slap him, but she couldn't find a justifiable reason in that specific moment.  
"Actually, I was hoping to answer your questions."  
This surprised Annabeth into further anger. Why did he have to be so hospitable?  
"I don't have any questions to ask you. First, your workers kidnap me, second you force me to endure the presence of the most irritating girl in the world, third-" Annabeth said, only just beginning her rant, when Percy cut her off.  
"Quick question: Are you talking about Clarisse or Thalia, because I think Thalia wins that ticket. Clarisse is just mean. Also, I didn't have my workers kidnap you; that was all Nico."  
"But you said it was okay," Annabeth countered.  
"Fine, that one might be true, but I did it because I was told to; I don't run this place, I just steal stuff and give an inspirational speech or two. All I want to do is help you understand the situation," he told her with complete sincerity. It was almost adorable.  
"Fine. First question: Where am I?"  
"I don't know the exact address, but we call this place Camp Half-Blood. It's on Long Island," he said.  
"Okay, next question: Why did you lock me in your room and not in one of the empty ones over here?"  
"'Cause I wanted to be a gentleman and give you the best room, duh," Percy responded facetiously.  
Annabeth glared at him.  
"Fine. My room is the safest, most secure room in this place. Plus, Hall Three is empty, so none of the other kids would bother people while they checked on you," Percy explained.  
"Whoa, wait," Annabeth said, a little shocked, "Thalia explained the whole, kids from each task force stay in that hall and whatever thing, but why would there be so many unclaimed kids if you're the only person in your task force?"  
Percy pondered this for a moment, as though trying to figure out how to word it. Finally, as though satisfied by his explanation, he began.  
"So, my dad, Poseidon, and his siblings, Hades, Zeus, and Hestia, had a pretty shitty dad. His name was Kronos. He owned this big company of sorts. It was basically a bunch of con artists, bounty hunters, and assassins who got paid a ton of money to do jobs for super rich people, but their front was as a technology thing with computers and stuff. Kronos had been doing some awful things with the money he was getting, though, so my dad, his siblings and a bunch of their friends, we call them the Olympians now, got together and made a plan to take him down. It worked and they took over and built an even bigger empire off of it. Everyone here is connected to the Olympians in one way or another. The most elite of the Cabins belong to Zeus, Zeus' wife Hera, Poseidon, and Hades. Combined, there are only three of us, Thalia, Nico, and me. Cabin two is empty because Hera likes to assign kids from other task forces on missions for her rather than have her own task force. The missions they're in charge of are too dangerous for most, so Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon just put their own children in the task forces and let them choose their companions when they have missions. Therefore, I have the hall all to myself."  
"I get it, I guess, but then why me? I'm just a random girl," Annabeth said, still a little confused. The whole concept was insane and the story was a bit far-fetched. How could such an organization hide from the public?  
Percy's phone let out a little blip. He unlocked it and texted whoever it was back. After a few moments, it beeped again and he became absorbed in the conversation. Finally, Annabeth waved her hand in front of his face, breaking him out of the trance.  
"Oh! Right, sorry, I'm a little ADHD," He said with a nervous laugh. Then he asked, "What were we talking about?"  
"I said I was just a random girl. Why did they decide to keep me here? Besides the obvious calling the police thing?" Annabeth repeated, a little annoyed.  
"Thanks," he said, then Percy recomposed himself into his former state, "Random girl my ass!" Percy said, "Didn't your mom ever tell you what she did for a living?"  
"My mom was an architect," Annabeth responded. She could tell what he was hinting, but refused to believe it.  
"True," Percy said, "But she's also the one who came up with the plan to take Kronos down."

**Just to clarify, I'll be using Task Force and Cabin interchangeably.**  
**Also, I know this chapter is super messy and stuff, but if you guys want full explanations and stuff, I'll do a chapter dedicated to lingo, back-story, and stuff like that to make things easier to keep straight.**  
**Sorry for not being able to post on Wednesday, but I had a lot of homework this week. :/**  
**What was Percy texting while talking with Annabeth? Check out my profile under Unrequited to find out!**

**Thanks for Reading**

**-Vans**


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